Evaluation of component condition through analysis of material interaction

ABSTRACT

There is described herein methods and systems relating to the use of the interaction of different materials to perform early detection of component failure. In particular, when the debris in a fluid sample comes from more than one source, a “level of interaction” is determined in order to monitor the degradation of the parts or components associated with the debris, as a function of the composition of the particles found in the fluid sample.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/743,015, filed on Jun. 18, 2015, the contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to methods and systems forfailure prediction using fluid analysis, and more particularly tomethods and system for evaluating the condition of one or morecomponents through the interaction of materials.

BACKGROUND OF THE ART

The analysis of engine oil or other lubricant for the purpose ofidentifying premature component wearing has been performed for severaldecades using optical atomic spectroscopy (e.g., atomic emissionspectroscopy (AES), as well as atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS)).This technology was the basis for the military aviation's SpectroscopicOil Analysis Program (SOAP). However, it has certain disadvantages, suchas a lack of repeatability among different equipment and an inability toanalyze particles greater than 5 μm in diameter. Furthermore, opticalatomic spectroscopy is an elemental analysis of the total oil sample andtypically does not characterize individual particles in the sample.

Other approaches have since been proposed, whereby individual particlesmay be characterized and classified based on their chemical composition.However, these approaches are not sufficient to predict complexcomponent failures.

SUMMARY

There is described herein methods and systems relating to the use of theinteraction of different materials to perform early detection ofcomponent failure. In particular, when the debris in a fluid samplecomes from more than one source, a “level of interaction” is determinedin order to monitor the degradation of the parts or componentsassociated with the debris, as a function of the composition of theparticles found in the fluid sample.

In accordance with a first broad aspect, there is provided a method forevaluating a condition of at least one component from an environmenthaving at least a first material and a second material different inchemical composition from the first material. The method comprisesobtaining chemical composition data of a plurality of particles filteredfrom a fluid sample of the environment; identifying particles that fallwithin an interaction zone, the interaction zone corresponding to aconcentration range for at least a first element found in the firstmaterial and at least a second element found in at least the secondmaterial, the concentration range defined by upper and lower limits thatvary as a function of a given element, the upper limit corresponding toa minimum concentration for the given element in one of the firstmaterial and the second material, and the lower limit corresponding to amaximum concentration for the given element in the other of the firstmaterial and the second material; determining a level of interactionbased on a quantity of particles within the interaction zone; andassigning a condition rating to the at least one component as a functionof the level of interaction.

In accordance with another broad aspect, there is provided a system forevaluating a condition of at least one component from an environmenthaving at least a first material and a second material different inchemical composition from the first material. The system comprises amemory; a processor coupled to the memory; and an application stored inthe memory and executable by the processor. The application isexecutable for obtaining chemical composition data of a plurality ofparticles filtered from a fluid sample of the environment; identifyingparticles that fall within an interaction zone, the interaction zonecorresponding to a concentration range for at least a first elementfound in the first material and at least a second element found in atleast the second material, the concentration range defined by upper andlower limits that vary as a function of a given element, the upper limitcorresponding to a minimum concentration for the given element in one ofthe first material and the second material, and the lower limitcorresponding to a maximum concentration for the given element in theother of the first material and the second material; determining a levelof interaction based on a quantity of particles within the interactionzone; and assigning a condition rating to the at least one component asa function of the level of interaction.

In accordance with yet another broad aspect, there is provided anon-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon programcode executable by a processor for carrying out the methods describedherein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description, taken in combinationwith the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for failure predictionusing fluid analysis;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for evaluating componentcondition from a particle composition analysis;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary interaction zonebetween two materials;

FIG. 4 is a graph of the percent of a material in a given particleversus a minimized function;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary system for evaluating thecondition of a component;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary embodiment of the condition evaluation system;and

FIG. 7 is an exemplary embodiment of an application running on thesystem of FIG. 6.

It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like featuresare identified by like reference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

There is described herein methods and systems for evaluating thecondition of at least one component based on materials interaction. Themethods and systems are applicable to environments having two materials,or compositions, that are in contact with each other or that eventuallycome into contact with each other. The two materials may be found on twoseparate components or on a single component. The two components may bepart of a mechanism whereby contact occurs through normal operation. Thetwo components may also be part of a mechanism whereby contact occursthrough abnormal operation, i.e. after some wear and tear to themechanism. The two materials may be found on a single component, withthe first material forming a first layer on the component and the secondmaterial forming a second layer on the component.

The one or more components may be any component that sheds particlesupon contact, such as bearings, baffles, carbon seals, magnetic seals,and gears. The components may form part of a vehicle, such as anaircraft, a ship, a train, and an automobile, or be used for otherapplications, such as power plants, wind turbines, and damns. Theenvironment may be an engine, such as a gas turbine engine, a turbojetengine, a turboprop engine, a turboshaft engine, or a turbofan engine,or any other environment whereby a fluid sample, such as a lubricant,may be obtained and filtered for particles.

The first material comprises at least a first element and the secondmaterial comprises at least a second element different from the firstelement. In some embodiments, each material is composed of only oneelement and the two elements differ, for example the first material ismade of 100% copper and the second material is made of 100% iron. Insome embodiments, both materials comprise the first element and thesecond element, but in different proportions. For example, the firstmaterial may comprise 70% of copper and 30% of zinc, and the secondmaterial may comprise 50% of copper and 50% of zinc. In someembodiments, the first material comprises more than one element and thesecond material comprises more than one element, and the first andsecond materials have no elements in common. In some embodiments, thefirst material comprises more than one element and the second materialcomprises more than one element, and the first and second materials haveat least some elements in common. Other embodiments to which the methodsand systems presented herein are applicable will be readily understoodby the person skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 refers to a method for the analysis of fluid samples, such asengine oil (or other lubricant), in order to detect abnormal behavior,based on material wear, and predict potential failures. The method may,in some embodiments, be performed using the methods and system describedby co-owned United States patent application bearing publication No.2014/0121994, the contents of which are hereby incorporated byreference.

At 102, a fluid sample (e.g., an oil or other lubricant sample from anaircraft engine) is obtained. In the example of an oil sample from anaircraft engine, the oil sample may be collected by the aircraftoperator. In some examples, more than one sample may be obtained fromthe engine. A relatively small amount of oil (e.g., 25 mL or less) maybe sufficient. The amount of oil sample obtained may be selected inorder to obtain a certain number of particles. For example, it may beknown or expected that a given engine should have a certain density ofparticles in the oil after a certain number of operating hours. Thevolume of oil sample obtained may thus be determined in order to obtaina minimum quantity of particles. The frequency of sampling may bedetermined based on the flight hours per year, the maturity of theengine, the typical behavior of the engine type and/or the history ofunscheduled engine removal for that engine type, for example. The samplemay be obtained and prepared using any suitable method.

At 104, the sample is filtered using any suitable method to obtainparticles from the sample. For example, a collected oil sample may befiltered using a very fine filter, such as a 0.22 μm filter, in order tofilter out even very small particles (e.g., particles sized as small as0.5 μm in diameter or smaller). Using such a filter, a sample of about25 mL may produce a surface sample of about 16 mm in diameter. Theparticles obtained may range in size from about 0.5 μm to about 1600 μm,for example, although smaller or larger particles may also be obtained.The volume of oil sample filtrated and the size of the sample preparedmay vary, such as according to the number of particles in the oil. Thevolume of oil sample that is filtered may be determined based on thetype of engine and/or the expected normal levels of particles in theoil. In some examples, the obtained density of particles may be 500particles per mm², which may be a density that can be used to reduce oravoid particles overlapping.

At 106, each particle is analyzed to determine a chemical composition. Ascanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped to perform x-rayspectroscopy may be used for this analysis, although any other suitablemethods may also be used. The SEM may be coupled to an X-RayFluorescence (XRF) detector for carrying out particle analysis. Forexample, an automated SEM, such as that from Aspex Corporation, may beused. The automated SEM may not require the presence of a human toselect the particle that will be analyzed. Software and/or hardware inthe system may automatically recognize the presence of a particle andmay then automatically move the stage and the electron beam on theparticle to perform the particle analysis. Any other suitable equipmentmay be used to perform this analysis.

A subset of the particles (e.g., 10% or less) may be analyzed whileensuring a good representation of the whole sample is captured. Theanalysis of the subset may be normalized to reflect the result for thefull sample. For an average oil sample, about 1500 to 2000 particles maybe analyzed. Suitable image analyzer software, such as thoseconventionally used with SEM, may be used to collect data about particlecomposition. Analysis of each particle may produce a respective set ofdata for that particle, for example there may be up to 70 data pointsfor each particle, the data describing various features of the particle(e.g., size, shape and composition, among others).

At 108, the condition of one or more components from which the particlesoriginate are evaluated as a function of the chemical composition of theparticles in the sample. More specifically, the interaction of materialsof different compositions are used to assess the condition of the one ormore components.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary method for evaluating component condition basedon materials interaction, as per 108. This method may be performed usingany processor-based system, as will be explained in more detail below.Some particles found in the fluid sample cannot be classified as aspecific material type because their composition is not within thedefined concentration limits of the material. These particles may be theresult of an interaction between two different materials, with aconcentration for a given element higher than the maximum of onematerial and lower than the minimum of the other material. At 202, thechemical composition data previously determined at 106 is obtained. At204, particles that fall within an interaction zone are identified. Theinteraction zone corresponds to a concentration range for the firstelement and the second element defined by upper and lower limits thatvary as a function of a given element. The upper limit corresponds to aminimum concentration for the given element in the first material or thesecond material, and the lower limit corresponds to a maximumconcentration for the given element in the other one of the firstmaterial or the second material. For example, if the Chromiumconcentration for a first material is from 4.0 to 7.0 and the Chromiumconcentration for a second material is from 10.0 to 13.0, theinteraction zone will be from 7.0 to 10.0, with 7.0 being the maximumconcentration for Chromium for the first material and 10.0 being theminimum concentration for Chromium for the second material. Thus aparticle having a concentration for Chromium between 7.0 and 10.0 willbe said to fall in the interaction zone and result from the interactionof the first material and the second material. If the concentrationlimits for a given element for the first material and the secondmaterial overlap, this element may be excluded from consideration. Assuch, particles are considered the result of an interaction between thefirst material and the second material if all of the concentrations ofthe main elements of the two materials are within an interaction zone.

In some embodiments, main elements are determined as follows: Inmaterials comprising three or less elements, all elements may beconsidered main elements. In materials comprising four or five elements,elements having a concentration of about 2% or higher may be consideredmain elements. In materials having more than five elements, elementshaving a concentration of about 5% or higher may be considered mainelements. Other embodiments for determining main elements may also beused.

FIG. 3 is provided to illustrate the principle of the interaction zone.[El_(i)]_(A1) is the concentration range 302 for element i as part ofthe first material A1. [El_(i)]_(A2) is the concentration range 304 forelement i as part of the second material A2. For a given particle p, theconcentration of a given element [El_(i)]_(p) may be found to be withinthe limits of the concentration for this element in the first materialA1 at 302, or within the limits of the concentration for this element inthe second material A2 at 304. Otherwise, the concentration [El_(i)]_(p)is said to be in the interaction zone 306 of the first material and thesecond material. Note that this exercise can be done for all elementsthat are found in A1 and A2.

In addition, an interaction zone may be formed from the interaction ofmore than two materials, such as three materials, four materials, ormore. For example, assume that the first and second materials arecomposed as follows:

-   -   A1: Fe 70%; Ni 14%; Cr 10%    -   A2: Fe 50%; Ni 24%; Cr 20%

Also assume that the concentration limits for each element are ±2%, thenany particles that are composed as follows will fall within theinteraction zone:

-   -   P: Fe 53%-67%; Ni 17%-21%; Cr 13%-17%

Note that this example is provided with round numbers for simplicity. Itmay be that the boundaries of the interaction zone are set to severaldecimal points, such as 52.999%. It may also be that the boundaries ofthe interaction zone are set to be equal to the maximum and minimumconcentration limits of the elements in the first and second material,such as 52% and 68% for Fe. The boundaries of the interaction zone maybe set with greater or less precision, as desired. Other ways of settingthe boundaries of the interaction zone may also be used.

Referring back to FIG. 2, at 206, a level of interaction of the twomaterials is determined based on a quantity of particles found withinthe interaction zone (IZ). The level of interaction is then associatedwith a given condition rating for the one or more components involved inthe interaction of the first material and the second material, as per208. For example, the level of interaction may be defined as follows:

TABLE 1 # of Particles in IZ Level of Interaction Condition Rating 0-501 Normal 51-150 2 High >150 3 Critical

The number of particles for each level of interaction may vary as afunction of the volume of the fluid sample. They may also vary as afunction of other factors, such as but not limited to the application,the materials, the compositions, and the mechanism involved in thecontact between the materials. In addition, more or less levels and/orcondition ratings may be used. For example, only two condition ratingsdefined as normal and abnormal may be used. In another example, four ormore condition ratings may be used to provide a more granular evaluationof the interaction of the materials.

In some embodiments, determining a level of interaction may comprisedetermining a number of particles found in a subset of the interactionzone. The subset of the interaction zone may be a mix of the first andsecond materials according to a range of percentages from each material.For example, 30% of material 1+70% of material 2 to 40% of material1+60% of material 2.

When considering just the elements themselves that are shared betweenthe materials, the interaction zone may be defined as:

-   -   IZ_(total): Fe 53%-67%; Ni 17%-21%; Cr 13%-17%        and the subset of the interaction zone may be defined as:    -   IZ_(subset): Fe 55%-60%; Ni 18%-20%; Cr 15%-16%

As such, only particles that have concentrations that fall within thesubset of the interaction zone would be considered for determining alevel of interaction. The subset may be determined using one or morefactors, such as statistical analyses that establish what may beconsidered normal or abnormal in terms of the concentrations ofparticles found in the fluid sample, or based on historicalobservations. Other factors may also be used to determine the subset ofthe interaction zone.

In some embodiments, the subset of the interaction zone corresponds to arange of percentages of the first material and the second material thatforms a given particle. In this case, determining the level ofinteraction comprises counting how many particles in the sample arecomposed of particles that fall within the predetermined range ofpercentages. For example, the subset of the interaction zone maycomprise particles resulting from the contact of A1 and A2, containingbetween 20% and 80% of A1. Alternatively, the subset of the interactionzone may correspond to 5% to 15% of A1. The subset of the interactionzone, used to determine the level of interaction between A1 and A2, maybe set as desired, using statistical analyses and/or historicalobservations. An example is illustrated in table 2.

TABLE 2 # of Particles in IZ_(subset) Level of Interaction ConditionRating 0-50  5% Normal 51-150 15% High >150 25% Critical

In some embodiments, determining the percentage of the two or morematerials that form a given particle may be performed mathematically, byminimizing the following equation:

$\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\left( {\left\lbrack {El}_{i} \right\rbrack_{p} - \left( {{P_{A\; 1}\left\lbrack {El}_{i} \right\rbrack}_{A\; 1} + {P_{A\; 2}\left\lbrack {El}_{i} \right\rbrack}_{A\; 2}} \right)} \right)^{2}$

while P_(A1)+P_(A2)=1, where P_(A1) is a percentage of the firstmaterial in the given particle, P_(A2) is a percentage of the secondmaterial in the given particle, n is a number of elements considered,[El_(i)] is a concentration of element i, p is a particle, A1 is thefirst material, and A2 is the second material. The equation is minimizedfor every particle P_(A1) varying from 0 to 1 (or from 0% to 100%).

Several methods may be used to minimize the equation. For example, asecond degree equation in the form of y=ax²+bx+c may be calculated fromspecific data points. Using the example from above with a particle ihaving the following composition:

-   -   A1: Fe 70%; Ni 14%; Cr 10%    -   A2: Fe 50%; Ni 24%; Cr 20%    -   Particle i: Fe 62%; Ni 20%; Cr 17%

A data set comprising a given number of hypotheses may be used. More orless data points may be used to obtain a more or less precise result. Anexample where the function is determined using six hypotheticalcompositions is illustrated below:(P _(A1) ,P _(A2))=(100%,0%);Σ_(i=1) ^(n)([El _(i)]_(p)−(P _(A1)[El_(i)]_(A1) +P _(A2)[El _(i)]_(A2)))²=0.0149(P _(A1) ,P _(A2))=(80%,20%);Σ_(i=1) ^(n)([El _(i)]_(p)−(P _(A1)[El_(i)]_(A1) +P _(A2)[El _(i)]_(A2)))²=0.0057(P _(A1) ,P _(A2))=(60%,40%);Σ_(i=1) ^(n)([El _(i)]_(p)−(P _(A1)[El_(i)]_(A1) +P _(A2)[El _(i)]_(A2)))²=0.0013(P _(A1) ,P _(A2))=(40%,60%);Σ_(i=1) ^(n)([El _(i)]_(p)−(P _(A1)[El_(i)]_(A1) +P _(A2)[El _(i)]_(A2)))²=0.0017(P _(A1) ,P _(A2))=(20%,80%);Σ_(i=1) ^(n)([El _(i)]_(p)−(P _(A1)[El_(i)]_(A1) +P _(A2)[El _(i)]_(A2)))²=0.0069(P _(A1) ,P _(A2))=(0%,100%);Σ_(i=1) ^(n)([El _(i)]_(p)−(P _(A1)[El_(i)]_(A1) +P _(A2)[El _(i)]_(A2)))²=0.0169

FIG. 4 is a graph of the resulting function, which may be represented bythe second degree equation y=0.06x⁻0.062 x+0.0169, and its minimum(−b/2a) is 0.517. The particle i is thus considered to be composed of51.7% of material A1 and 48.3% of material A2. Depending on thepredetermined range established as the subset of the interaction zone,particle i may be considered to fall within or outside of the subset ofthe interaction zone.

Material interaction may thus be quantified and characterized in orderto monitor the degradation of components. The level of interaction isdetermined by the quantity of particles within the interaction zone orwithin a subset of the interaction zone. Depending on the applicationand the criticality of the interaction, different zones may be used.Once the level of interaction is quantified, knowledge of a failuremechanism may be used to observe various patterns. For example, considerthe following pattern:

Step 1: Part A made of Series 300 stainless steel is moving slightly onPart B made of aluminum alloy.

Step 2: Part A moves more freely and touches Part C (a stud) made ofHigh Nickel Stainless Steel.

Step 3: Part B start to move freely and rubs against Part C.

Step 4: Part B is fretting on Part D, made of low alloy.

Step 5: Part B is degrading.

Step 6: Failure of Part B.

Quantifying the interaction between the different materials involved inthe pattern allows this pattern to be recognized early on in theprocess. In order to prevent failure of Part B during normal operation,detection of interaction of materials involved in steps 1, 2, or 3 maybe used. Such detection may allow replacement of Part B before failure,thus leading to reduced damages and/or lower replacement costs. Inaddition, the interaction of Part A with Part B may be detected and leadto maintenance which may prevent the interaction between Part A and PartC, at step 2. Testing frequency may be increased to monitor varioussteps of a given pattern, such as steps 3, 4, and 5 in the aboveexample. Recommendations for the replacement of defective or degradingparts may be made during the process, based on the estimated time offailure.

In some embodiments, the presence of some material, such as silverplating, may be considered critical due to the origin of the material,i.e. its use in bearing assembly. For example, if the silver plating islinked to a high nickel stainless steel, it may be related tolubricating plating on a bolt. If instead the silver plating is linkedto a low alloy steel, it may come from a bearing cage. The ability toidentify a source of the material provides added information useful tothe prediction of failure of a given mechanism.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a system for evaluating component conditionwill now be described. The system 502, may be accessible remotely fromany one of a plurality of devices 506 over connections 504. Theconnections 504 may comprise wire-based technology, such as electricalwires or cables, and/or optical fibers. The connections 504 may also bewireless, such as RF, infrared, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and others.Connections 504 may therefore comprise a network, such as the Internet,the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN), a cellular network, orothers known to those skilled in the art. Communication over the networkmay occur using any known communication protocols that enable deviceswithin a computer network to exchange information. Examples of protocolsare as follows: IP (Internet Protocol), UDP (User Datagram Protocol),TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), DHCP (Dynamic Host ConfigurationProtocol), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), FTP (File TransferProtocol), Telnet (Telnet Remote Protocol), SSH (Secure Shell RemoteProtocol). The devices 506 may comprise any device, such as a personalcomputer, a tablet, a smart phone, or the like, which is configured tocommunicate over the connections 504. In some embodiments, the conditionevaluation system 502 may itself be provided directly on one of thedevices 506, either as a downloaded software application, a firmwareapplication, or a combination thereof.

One or more databases 508 may be integrated directly into the system 502or any one of the devices 508, or may be provided separately therefrom(as illustrated). In the case of a remote access to the databases 508,access may occur via connections 504 taking the form of any type ofnetwork, as indicated above. The various databases 508 described hereinmay be provided as collections of data or information organized forrapid search and retrieval by a computer. The databases 508 may bestructured to facilitate storage, retrieval, modification, and deletionof data in conjunction with various data-processing operations. Thedatabases 508 may be any organization of data on a data storage medium,such as one or more servers. The databases 508 illustratively havestored therein raw data representing a plurality of features of theparticles filtered from the fluid sample obtained, the features beingfor example physical characteristics and chemical composition. Thedatabases 508 may also have stored thereon specific chemical compositiondata from particle analysis, data defining an interaction zone and/or asubset of an interaction zone, levels of interaction, condition ratings,and the outcomes of the evaluation of the condition of components.

As shown in FIG. 6, the system 502 illustratively comprises one or moreserver(s) 600. The server 600 may be accessed by a user, such as atechnician or an lab employee, using one of the devices 506, or directlyon the system 502 via a graphical user interface. The server 600 maycomprise, amongst other things, a plurality of applications 606 a . . .606 n running on a processor 604 coupled to a memory 602. It should beunderstood that while the applications 606 a . . . 606 n presentedherein are illustrated and described as separate entities, they may becombined or separated in a variety of ways.

The memory 602 accessible by the processor 604 may receive and storedata. The memory 602 may be a main memory, such as a high speed RandomAccess Memory (RAM), or an auxiliary storage unit, such as a hard disk,a floppy disk, or a magnetic tape drive. The memory 602 may be any othertype of memory, such as a Read-Only Memory (ROM), or optical storagemedia such as a videodisc and a compact disc. The processor 604 mayaccess the memory 602 to retrieve data. The processor 604 may be anydevice that can perform operations on data. Examples are a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a front-end processor, a microprocessor, and anetwork processor. The applications 606 a . . . 606 n are coupled to theprocessor 604 and configured to perform various tasks. An output may betransmitted to devices 506.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary embodiment of an application 606 a running on theprocessor 604. The application 606 a illustratively comprises aclassifying module 702, an interaction quantifying module 704, and acondition rating module 706. The classifying module 702 is configured toobtain the chemical composition data from the filtered particles. It mayobtain them by requesting that they be provided from another source, orit may obtain them by receipt thereof without prompt. In someembodiments, the classifying module 702 may also be configured toanalyze the particles from the filtered fluid sample in order togenerate the chemical composition data. Once obtained, the chemicalcomposition data is used by the classifying module to identify particlesthat fall within the interaction zone, as described above. Thisidentification step may be considered as a classification of particles,wherein some particles are classified as resulting from an interactionbetween at least two materials when the composition thereof meets thecriteria for the interaction zone or the subset of the interaction zone.The classifying module 702 may then transmit the classification data tothe interaction quantifying module 704.

The interaction quantifying module 704 may be configured to determinethe level of interaction based on the quantity of particles within theinteraction zone, as described above. The level of interaction isprovided to the condition rating module 706, which may be configured toassign a condition rating to the one or more components involved in thematerial interaction, as a function of the level of interaction.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable medium havingstored thereon program code executable by a processor for carrying outthe methods described herein and illustrated in application 606 a may beprovided.

The above description is meant to be exemplary only, and one skilled inthe relevant arts will recognize that changes may be made to theembodiments described without departing from the scope of the inventiondisclosed. For example, the blocks and/or operations in the flowchartsand drawings described herein are for purposes of example only. Theremay be many variations to these blocks and/or operations withoutdeparting from the teachings of the present disclosure. For instance,the blocks may be performed in a differing order, or blocks may beadded, deleted, or modified.

While illustrated in the block diagrams as groups of discrete componentscommunicating with each other via distinct data signal connections, itwill be understood by those skilled in the art that the presentembodiments are provided by a combination of hardware and softwarecomponents, with some components being implemented by a given functionor operation of a hardware or software system, and many of the datapaths illustrated being implemented by data communication within acomputer application or operating system. The structure illustrated isthus provided for efficiency of teaching the present embodiment. Thepresent disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from the subject matter of the claims. Also, one skilled inthe relevant arts will appreciate that while the systems, methods andcomputer readable mediums disclosed and shown herein may comprise aspecific number of elements/components, the systems, methods andcomputer readable mediums may be modified to include additional or fewerof such elements/components. The present disclosure is also intended tocover and embrace all suitable changes in technology. Modificationswhich fall within the scope of the present invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art, in light of a review of this disclosure, andsuch modifications are intended to fall within the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for evaluating a condition of atleast one component from an environment, the method comprising:obtaining chemical composition data of a plurality of particles filteredfrom a fluid sample of the environment; identifying particles resultingfrom an interaction between a first material and a second material ashaving a concentration outside of defined concentration limits of thefirst material and the second material; determining a level ofinteraction of the first material and the second material based on aquantity of the particles identified; and assigning a condition ratingto the at least one component as a function of the level of interaction.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the concentration of the particles iswithin a concentration range that comprises a plurality of elementsfound in the first material and the second material at differentconcentrations.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a level ofinteraction comprises identifying a quantity of particles within asubset of the concentration range.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein thesubset of the concentration range corresponds to a critical zone basedon historical observations.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereindetermining the level of interaction comprises applying:$\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\left( {\left\lbrack {El}_{i} \right\rbrack_{p} - \left( {{P_{A\; 1}\left\lbrack {El}_{i} \right\rbrack}_{A\; 1} + {P_{A\; 2}\left\lbrack {El}_{i} \right\rbrack}_{A\; 2}} \right)} \right)^{2}$while P_(A1)+P_(A2)=1, where P_(A1) is a percentage of the firstmaterial in the given particle, P_(AZ) is a percentage of the secondmaterial in the given particle, n is a number of elements considered,[El_(i)] is a concentration of element i, p is a particle, A1 is thefirst material, and A2 is the second material.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the first material is a first alloy and the second material is asecond alloy.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first alloy is on afirst component and the second alloy is on a second component.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the environment is an engine and the fluidsample is a lubricant of the engine.
 9. A system for evaluating acondition of at least one component from an environment, the systemcomprising: a memory; a processor coupled to the memory; and anapplication stored in the memory and executable by the processor for:obtaining chemical composition data of a plurality of particles filteredfrom a fluid sample of the environment; identifying particles resultingfrom an interaction between a first material and a second material ashaving a concentration outside of defined concentration of the firstmaterial and the second material; determining a level of interaction ofthe first material and the second material based on a quantity of theparticles identified; and assigning a condition rating to the at leastone component as a function of the level of interaction.
 10. The methodof claim 9, wherein the concentration of the particles is within aconcentration range that comprises a plurality of elements found in thefirst material and the second material at different concentrations. 11.The system of claim 10, wherein determining a level of interactioncomprises identifying a quantity of particles within a subset of theconcentration range.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the subset ofthe concentration range corresponds to a critical zone based onhistorical observations.
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein determiningthe level of interaction comprises applying:$\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}\left( {\left\lbrack {El}_{i} \right\rbrack_{p} - \left( {{P_{A\; 1}\left\lbrack {El}_{i} \right\rbrack}_{A\; 1} + {P_{A\; 2}\left\lbrack {El}_{i} \right\rbrack}_{A\; 2}} \right)} \right)^{2}$while P_(A1)+P_(A2)=1, where P_(A1) is a percentage of the firstmaterial in the given particle, P_(AZ) is a percentage of the secondmaterial in the given particle, n is a number of elements considered,[El_(i)] is a concentration of element i, p is a particle, A1 is thefirst material, and A2 is the second material.
 14. The system of claim9, wherein the first material is a first alloy and the second materialis a second alloy.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first alloyis on a first component and the second alloy is on a second component.16. The system of claim 9, wherein the environment is an engine and thefluid sample is a lubricant of the engine.
 17. A non-transitory computerreadable medium having stored thereon program code executable by aprocessor for carrying out a method for evaluating a condition of atleast one component from an environment, the program code comprisinginstructions for: obtaining chemical composition data of a plurality ofparticles filtered from a fluid sample of the environment; identifyingparticles resulting from an interaction between a first material and asecond material as having a concentration outside of definedconcentration limits of the first material and the second material;determining a level of interaction of the first material and the secondmaterial based on a quantity of the particles identified; and assigninga condition rating to the at least one component as a function of thelevel of interaction.